ORANGES FOR CONFETTI.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 141, 17 June 1938, Page 14

ORANGES FOR CONFETTI.

The small Belgian town of Binclic lias, been known for centuries tor its Shrove Tuesday festivities. On that day hundreds of men and boys don the famous (lilies costume, made of multicoloured silk and brocade, adorned with tiny gilt bells. The chief feature is an enormous hat entirely made of the most beautiful ostrich feathers.

Xo words can describe the splendour of the (!illes pageant, which thousands of Belgians, and many Frenchmen, rush t<l watch every year. The paireant has its own band and its own songs, and. greatest of all, its own dancing step. Tlie dance is reminiscent of certain very ancient native dances. For some time the dancers stand still except for ?haking their bodies to the tingling of thousands of small bells. Then, suddenly. they seize each other's hands and the dance finishes in a whirling rondeau, amidst cries of joy.

Another original feature of the Gilles Carnival is the throwing of oranges instead of the stereotyped confetti. The dangers are met by careful lowering of shutters in all private houses, and protection of street lamps by wooden "masks." and in the cafes and >hops which renin in open until the early hours of Asi Wednesday, the padding of mirrors and clocks.